MEDICINAL PLANTS AND DRUGS. 167 



ihg afterwards met with unmerited negle<5l ; and such may, perhaps, be 

 the ca&e, in respe6l to the plant in question ; which has been lately intro* 

 duced into Bengal, and is now cultivated in the gardens about Calcutta. 

 I have therefore inserted the Ayapana in the catalogue, as an obje6l de- 

 serving further inquiry. It's congener, the Eiipatoriiim Cannabimim, was 

 strongly recommended by Tournefort and Chomel, as a deobstruent, in 

 visceral obstructions consequent to intermittent fevers ; and externally, as 

 a discutient, in hydropic swellings of the legs and scrotum. See Murray, 



I. 202. 



Gentx^na Chirayitj. (Roxb. Ms.) ChiraT/itaU. Cirdtaticta S. 



Sp. Ch. — Herbaceous. Leaves stem-clasping, lanceolate. 3 — 5 nerved. Corol 

 xotate, four cleft, smooth. Stamens four. Capsule ovate, bifurcate, as long as 

 the caljx. (Roxb. Ms.) 



This species of Gentian is indigenous in the mountainous countries to 

 the northward of the Ganges; but does not grow in the lower parts of 

 Bengal. The dried herb, however, is to be met with in every bazar of 

 Hindostan; being a medicine in the highest repute, with both the Hindu 

 and European pra6litioners. It possesses all the stomachic, tonic, febri- 

 fuge and antiarthritic virtues which are ascribed to the Gentiana Lutea, 

 and in a greater degree than they are generally found in that root, in the 

 state in which it comes to us from Europe. It may therefore, on every 

 occasion, be advantageously substituted for it. The efficacy of the Chi" 

 rayita, when combined with the Caranja nut, in curing intermittents, has 

 been already mentioned. It is found equally powerful in exciting and 

 strengthening the adiion of the stomach, and obviating flatulency, acidity 

 and redundancy of phlegm, in dyspepsia and gout. For restoring the tone 

 and activity of the moving fibre, in general debility, and ill tliat kind of 



